Healthy Living: Take giant strides in the art of running properly

Richard Blackledge

BE it a result of last year’s Olympic fever or simply because of expensive gym membership fees, it’s an inescapable fact – the pavements and parks of Sheffield are teeming with runners.

In the warmer months each weekend seems to bring another charity run, city marathon or 10k, with participants determined to get fit and healthy by clocking up impressive distances.

Of course, some aspiring athletes don’t give their running technique a second thought, pulling on their trainers and launching themselves gamely into the race.

But according to Sheffield physiotherapist Phil Williams, many runners can avoid problems and injuries – and even improve their time – simply by analysing their own running style.

Phil is part of an eight-strong team of therapists at Broomhill practice The Physios, which has been treating patients for almost 20 years.

“Running is one of the most natural activities a human can do, it requires little or no equipment, and most of us have had a go at some point in our lives,” he said.

“I still get the same pleasure putting my running shoes on as I did when I was a kid, running to the post box to post a letter – timed by my mum of course!”

Phil said he has noticed a surge in the sport’s popularity recently.

“Take Endcliffe Park on a Saturday for example – in the morning, the park is full of eager runners of all abilities.

“It’s a great sight to see, and the variety of running styles always gets the physiotherapist side of my brain bursting with activity.

“I’m a runner myself, so it’s very rewarding to combine my knowledge and experience of running with my clinical skills that enable me to help people avoid problems, as well as rehabilitating injured runners.”

Phil said a major part of his work involves analysing how people move, and in particular how they run.

“Movement or gait analysis can even be enhanced by using slow motion video, which enables abnormal movement patterns to be identified more easily and for the patient to see it and understand it too.

“That way, corrections are made and this not only prevents problems from developing but also can improve individual performance.”

Aerobics instructor Alison Nockels, from Midhopestones, visited Phil while suffering from an episode of back pain and sciatica.

A scan showed a disc had been pressing on a nerve in her back, and she needed to recover in time to take part in the annual festive Percy Pud race, which follows a route along the Loxley Valley in Sheffield. “For someone so used to feeling fit and healthy, this period of intense pain was a real shock,” said Alison, aged 49.

“I could barely move around the house, never mind go for my usual five-mile run. The Percy Pud race was looming and I just couldn’t see myself being better for that.”

Physiotherapy sessions dealt with the pain, but further gait analysis showed Alison had underlying, unresolved issues.

“I had some residual weakness of key muscles in my leg and buttock caused by the nerve compression.

“Phil explained that, if left uncorrected, this would lead to me attempting to compensate for it, abnormal movement patterns, and ultimately pain and further injury. So we started on a specific strengthening programme, which brought a full recovery and a place in the starting line of the Percy Pud.”

Meanwhile Matthew Hardy, 38, from Nether Edge, said he found the extra advice helpful after eight years’ experience in road, fell and endurance events.

“I went to see Phil in order to try to avoid the injuries which crop up and keep me from running every now and then,” he said.

“On our first session Phil built a thorough picture from analysis of my running history, gait and form, as well as my own running preferences and goals. He recommended a number of technique changes to both reduce my times and risk of injury.

“It was a lot of information to absorb, but the dual approach to improve my times and endurance through technique changes and exercises, as well as pin-pointing where I may be prone to injury and how to avoid it, made the session extremely valuable.

“I now feel like I have a more comfortable and stronger running style, with some of the rough edges knocked off.”

Phil added that runners should ‘spare a thought for the small clues’ when they pull on their trainers. “They may have a large impact on injury prevention as well as improving running technique – you might find yourself running a few seconds, or minutes, quicker,” he said.

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

The Star provides news, events and sport features from the Sheffield area. For the best up to date information relating to Sheffield and the surrounding areas visit us at The Star regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website The Star requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.